I quickly awoke from my fiery nightmare, completely drenched in sweat. I swear Ethan was honestly going to drive me off the deep end, and I don’t mean the deep end of the pool. What really annoyed me though was as much as his touch burned it was also, very exhilarating, almost enjoyable, I guess that’s what happens when you’ve had about as many romantic experiences as a three year old. I tried to forget the dream as I got ready for school, but I was a bit nervous to see Ethan, he had somehow managed to impact me significantly, and I don’t think for the better.

It was a very déjà vu morning, it was almost eerie, of course once I got on the bus and Gerald started talking about the swimming tryouts that took place yesterday the déjà vu ended. I couldn’t focus even as I was walking to my classes, I grew more tense as time went on, knowing I would be seeing Ethan soon, I just needed to figure out a way to somehow touch him without it being awkward, maybe a handshake, but I needed to know he wasn’t some super-heated being. Raven didn’t bother me today, he was still very humiliated and nobody was letting him forget it, almost made me feel sorry for the guy. Almost was the key word.

I actually decided to talk to Raven though, I needed to find out what had happened yesterday. “Raven, when Ethan grabbed your arm, what did it feel like?” Raven looked at me with surprised in his eyes and spoke very quietly “Intense burning, like I’d just stuck my arm into an enclosed ring of fire.” Great, I did not need to hear that, now I was beginning to worry. Raven continued, “He’s a freak, there’s something that’s just not right about that kid, something frightening.” I didn’t look at him, I just whispered “He’s definitely frightening, that’s for sure.” I ignored the lesson in third period, I wanted to make sure I could face Ethan completely prepared for whatever may or may not happen.

I spent my last few minutes away from Ethan trying to come up with more logical explanations, nothing came to my mind however, so I gave up and finally arrived at my History class. What luck, he was already at his seat, I walked over and set my things on my desk. He smiled at me kindly and spoke politely “Good morning, Mychaela.” My skin crawled as he said my name just as he had done in the dream. I could only manage a smile, I quickly blurted out “I’m going to join.” He nodded his head once and extended his hand saying “Good to have you.” This was my chance, and I took it, I shook his hand.

I was almost disappointed, but quite relieved, his hand was cool, it didn’t burn at all. I felt much better and took my seat, I felt so silly actually believing that Ethan was going to burn me. We actually had a very nice conversation, talking about how fun the swim team was going to be, I asked him if he was going to do diving as well but he just chuckled and said “I don’t find jumping from little heights like that too exhilarating.” I just shook my head and told him he was crazy. We both had a good laugh, and I learned a few little things about him. He was quite a gentleman despite his clearly short temper, I decided not to open that wound though, I thought it best not to set him off.

As I walked to lunch it felt like a hundred pounds had been lifted off of my heart and as I sat at my usual table at lunch Larissa came over and asked if I would join her and her friends Friday evening, they were going downtown, they also asked if I knew any guys who may come, I was about to say no but then a brilliant idea came to mind, I told her I would have an answer after school and quickly sped off hoping he would be sitting where he was yesterday. Luckily he was, Ethan sat, like yesterday, alone, I joined him.
“Hey, Ethan, my friends and I plan to go downtown on Friday, want to join us?” He looked surprised but answered quickly “It’s dangerous downtown, I think I had better.” I was ecstatic, it’d be another chance to get to know more about him. I spent the rest of the lunch period with him giving him some forewarning about Larissa and the other girls, he just scoffed and said “I don’t date.” This bit of news was disappointing, though it really shouldn’t have been, he was a good looking guy but I didn’t like him in that way. That was unimportant though, I now had to think about the rest of my classes.

The day from then on just continued to get better, we had a sub fifth period and in my TA period they just continued comparing Romeo and Juliet. Finally I went to Gym where I quickly joined Ethan, members of the Swimming team were to practice while the rest of the students ran laps. Ethan once again blew through the water like it was nothing, doing a full lap of every stroke with perfect technique, it amazed me how he never seemed to tire. The coach hardly paid attention to anyone else which made me feel more comfortable practicing. I decided to work on endurance, I would do as many laps of freestyle at a decent pace as possible.

As I was finishing my seventh lap I heard the coach call Ethan out to give more people a chance, I looked at Ethan for a split second who quickly snapped his head towards me looking alarmed and looked like he was about to jump back in. This puzzled me, but I soon became dizzy as my head hit the pool’s edge. I could feel my body sinking slowly but then, so swiftly it almost made me feel sick I felt my body being lifted up out of the water onto solid ground. In no time I head alarmed voices murmuring, then the yelling of the coach “Good God! Does anyone know CPR?!” I then heard Ethan’s voice which was right next to me “I do.” I wasn’t prepared for what came next, I felt his lips on mine pushing air into me.

“Is she breathing?!” The coach yelled, and Ethan answered quietly “Yes.” He lied. I wasn’t breathing. Everyone believed him however and walked away, I could hear their footsteps becoming faint and I felt Ethan lift me up. “I will take her to the clinic” and he whispered in my ear “Hang in just a little longer, Mychaela, I’ll have you breathing as soon as we get away from everyone.” I couldn’t speak so I couldn’t argue, I let him carry me along. He finally stopped and set me down, he then pressed his lips to mine again and breathed into me. His breath burned, it was like steam, I felt the water in my lungs slowly evaporate into air and I shot my eyes open gasping.

As I looked at him he placed one index finger on my lips and one on his. I did as he’d signaled and remained silent. “This never happened, Mychaela, I took you to the clinic, which I shall, and there you awoke where I offered to drive you home, which I shall. Understand?” I nodded and said “Nobody would believe this anyway.” He smirked and replied “Raven would.” I was tempted to ask but really didn’t want to know, once again he lifted me up, this time conscious and carried me off. The nurse was very kind, she even allowed him to stay with me, then again maybe it was just because Ethan was very charismatic.

Once again we talked about ourselves, we had some things in common, we were both outsiders among our peers, we both liked a few of the same musicals and we both thought Raven was an idiot, then again who didn’t besides Jackson and Raymond. The bell finally rang and I began to head to my bus but he quickly grabbed my hand. “Ah ah ah, Mychaela, I already told you, I’m driving you home.” I looked at him astonished, I’d thought he was joking, then again it would be kind of nice not having to take the bus.

I followed him to his car and we left the school. His car was awesome, it must have cost a fortune! “So, how long did you have to save up for this car?” He laughed, a laugh that almost sounded sinister, “Seventy-eight years.” I didn’t quite understand his sense of humor but I laughed and went along with it, “So how many times have you had to repeat the twelfth grade?” He continued our little joke casually “I didn’t have to, I just kept choosing to go back to high school as well as college, great way to get the best education possible you know?” I laughed again and said “Well I would hope so! You must be a genius by now!”

He just laughed and asked me “Where do you live?” I rolled my eyes and said “It’s kind of hidden, I’ll tell you where to go.” He nodded and continued to drive as I instructed him on where to go. After about fifteen minutes we arrived at my house. I didn’t want to get out, it was quite comfortable in his car, but I finally got out and went inside. My mother had been informed about the incident at school and immediately started looking me over. After a few minutes she gave up on trying to find something wrong and told me I needed to be more careful or she wasn’t going to let me swim. Typical overprotective mother, but after living my whole life with her I was used to it.

I was about to go upstairs when I heard her say “Whose your good-looking friend here?” I turned around puzzled and standing there was Ethan. “What are you doing here?” I asked sounding unintentionally rude. He smiled and said “I’m supposed to help you with your History studies, remember?” I blinked a few times and realized he was right, he was my partner. “Well that’s good, and your name is?” I could tell what my mother was thinking as she asked him this, possible boyfriend for me, not going to happen. He looked at her and said “Ethan.” I decided to get him away from her as soon as possible so I interrupted “We should start now.” I quickly went into the living room where a copy of my History book was and he joined me nodding politely to my mother.

“So today’s subject-” He interrupted me quickly “The great fire of 1968” I looked up at him sheepishly “Right.” He didn’t even look in the book, he just began speaking “the fire claimed over 10,000 people, one of which was Oscar F. Smith, founder of our school. There was no clear cause of the fire, everyone assumed it was all just an accident, it happens.” I looked at him surprised, “Right, you really know your History.” He smiled and responded “Well, I can almost picture it all in my mind, it’s almost like being there once I’ve read about it.” His smile was odd, like there was some sort of hidden joke to what he’d said, but I let that go.

After about an hour of studying he finally left and my mother gave me “the look”. I decided to just go to my room and search for more information on the fire just to escape my mother. The internet had some pretty interesting links, including drawings and portraits of some of the people who had died as well as the people responsible for saving some of the people. This was when it got very creepy, looking at a picture of one of the heroes I began to see… eerie resemblances between him and Ethan, the same structure, the face, the eyes, the hair, the serious look, I quickly closed the page down and decided I’d just seen too much of Ethan for one day, I decided to call it a night, today had truly taken its toll on me.